Greene County Fair expands safety measures for 2017 fair

GREENEVILLE - The Greene County Fair is expanding safety measures following an incident at last year's Greene County Fair when three girls fell around 40 feet from a Ferris wheel.

This year a different company will provide the carnival rides, and there will be three ride inspectors. That is two more than required by state law.

"Immediately after the fair ended last year, the mission started and we started to looking at multiple ride companies and interviewed probably 12 to 15 companies," Greene County Fair Association president Rick Clark said.

In December, the fair association decided on Belle City Amusements to provide the midway attractions at upcoming fairs.

"They've been in the business for a long time." Clark said. "Between that and their safety record, we felt that was a good pairing for us."

Clark says Belle City Amusements will provide one ride inspector, and the fair association has hired two additional inspectors. All are certified by the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials.

Due to logistical purposes, midway rides at the fair will not open until Tuesday. However, Clark says that the fair and Belle City Attractions were able to extend the fair through Sunday so that rides will still be available for six days.

Clark says that the community has been particularly supportive of the fair this year.

"After last year you sort of wonder, but we've had excellent community support," Clark said. "Our exhibits are up, and we've had a tremendous number of commercial exhibitors."

Admission for the fair is $7 for people 12 and up. Children 11 and under are free.

Senior citizens and veterans can attend at a discounted price on Monday. Sundays are free admission days.